Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Dedicated to Poppy Seed Lovers…

Today I learnt a new word, Blogiversary. I know it sounds really silly, but I have only been blogging three months so how could I have known the word? Anyway, yesterday, I celebrated three months of blogging. Nothing special, really. You see, my washer (washing machine) conked out about a month ago, so these days I go to the Laundromat to wash clothes. I thought I would only do this for two or three weeks before I buy a new one, but I’ve sort of gotten hooked. Before, it took me almost the whole day to wash and dry in little loads (very irritating), but now, with the huge 3-load-washer-driers, it barely takes two hours. So you’ve guessed right, I keep on postponing the buying of a new washer. Who wants to spend the whole day washing… when it can be done in two hours???

Anyway, my three month Blogiversarywas spent at the Laundromat with a cup of coffee, blog cookies and a book to read. Don’t wonder, this Laundromat has nice tables and chairs, is fairly clean and anyway, I have become an expert, I even know the off peak hours, so it was just me and the washer-driers. This weekend I also met a lot of nice people on the WordPress platform. I’m so excited. We had wonderful conversation, it was amazing.

The recipe today is dedicated to poppy seed lovers. We had a long discussion on poppy seeds the last time I posted a poppy seed cake, recipe. I still maintain that they are very tasty and don’t stick in the teeth. And, I’ve since confirmed that their outer coat is a good source of dietary fiber, they are an excellent source B-complex vitamins and contain micronutrients like iron, copper, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc and magnesium. So voilà, the recipe… of this fluffy andwonderful creation.

Always remember to assemble all ingredients before you start.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) and poppy seeds. They are so tiny I was just able to sift them together with the flours.

Now make a well in the centre of the sifted flour.

Now whisk together the sugar, eggs, yoghurt, melted butter and the lemon zest (rind) or lime if using lime. I prefer the lime. It has a stronger and more pleasant smell. Please your palate and mood on this one!

This is what the mixture should look like after the whisking process is done.

Now pour the whisked mixture into the well. Stir gently until just combined. Do not over-stir, otherwise the muffins will be tough and unpleasant.

After the gentle stir, this is what your mixture should look like.

Spoon the mixture , evenly into a well greased, 12 hole, non-stick muffin pan (tin). I normally use canola oil and a silicon brush. If you don’t have a non-stick muffin pan (tin), use paper cases, or if preferred just use paper cases. I baked these muffins at 425°F (220°C) but I felt the oven was slightly too hot, Next time I’ll bake at (400°F) (200°C).

In a small pan, heat the extra sugar and 45ml (3 tablespoons) freshly squeezed lemon juice until sugar is dissolved and the mixture boils. Boil for 1 minute without stirring. Add a teaspoon poppy seeds if you like and set aside.

Let the muffins stand in the muffin pan (tin) for at least 5 minutes, then loosen carefully with a flat bladed knife and transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

Brush the lemon syrup over warm muffins. I always eat mine warm , they are so tasty when warm.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) ten minutes before using. Brush a medium, 12-hole, non-stick muffin tin (pan) with melted butter or oil or if preferred, just use paper cases.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) and poppy seeds into a bowl. Make a well in the centre.

In another bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, yoghurt, melted butter and lemon zest (rind) until well blended.

Add the blended mixture to the sifted flour. Stir gently until just combined. Do not over mix.

Spoon batter evenly, into the prepared muffin tin (pan). Bake at 400°F (200°C) 20-25 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Stand for 5 minutes, then loosen, carefully, with a flat bladed knife and transfer onto a wire rack to cool slightly.

Lemon Syrup: In a small saucepan, heat the extra sugar and lemon juice over medium heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Boil for 1 minute without stirring. Remove from heat. Brush lemon syrup over warm muffins.

For cup measures: spoon the flour into the cup, heaping it up over the top, then slide a knife across the top to level off the extra. Be careful not to shake or tap the cup to settle down the flour or you will have more than you need. I use a 240ml American cup.

Points to Note:

Please note that oven temperatures are given as a guideline only. You may need to add or reduce the suggested temperature depending on your oven. I baked the muffins at 425°F (220°C) for 23 minutes,but felt the oven was a bit too hot. Next time I would bake them at 400°F (200°C)

Last updated: 19 January 2018

myfavouritepastime.com

These muffins have been made by:

whitneykristine.wordpress.com:click hereto see her version made with quinoa seeds.

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69 thoughts

Hi, Liz – I wanted you to know these are in the muffin for Thanksgiving (American) breakfast. I did add a bit of dried fennel to the muffins – and we are going to have some homemade blueberry jam with them. Thanks for the great recipe. They smell SO SO SO good. Warmy – Shanna

Hi Shanna,
I have missed you so much. My week has been busy with open days in school and several home and away games this week (my kids are active in sports).
I’m glad to hear the Poppy Seed Muffins are making their way to your breakfast table. What a blessing for me. I hope you enjoy them. Please you’ll need to teach me how to make blueberry jam…I’ve never made jam before sigh…..I am so glad to hear from you and even more glad to hear they smell good…I can smell them from here. I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and hope you enjoy all those moments spent with family and friends. I shall be thinking about you. Xoxo to SM and littlest guy, I hope the Doc will have some time off. Best wishes!
Hugs,
Liz

Hi, Liz,
The muffins did not even last a day. They are so good! What a special treat. This morning I tried some blueberry muffins, but they did not turn at half as good as your lemon-poppyseed muffins. Do you have a good blueberry muffin recipe? Oh, blueberry jam – http://shannaward.com/2013/09/04/simple-squared-simply-polenta-bread-with-simple-blueberry-jam/ – This is an easy one. Sometimes I add extra maple syrup, to taste.
I am glad to hear that you are a busy bee! What lucky kids you have that their mom is so caring and devoted. And makes great muffins. 😉 Did you ever get your washing machine repaired (speaking of the muffin post)?
Warmly,
Shanna

Hi Shanna,
The washing machine was never repaired and I haven’t bought a new one either. I got hooked to the Laundromat. I do my washing twice a month and it takes a total of 3 hours for the whole month’s load of washing. Maybe next year I shall buy another one…the year is over now.
Blueberry muffins recipe: https://myfavouritepastime.com/2013/03/31/blueberry-muffins/
I like them because they’re not to sugary….The past week was so busy. my son had three games and my daughter two. And this week is full of games too. Thanks Shanna, you are such a wonderful lady. I’m so glad I met you. Wish you a fabulous week!
Liz

Hi, Liz,
We have five folks in our household. Laundry is SUCH a chore. You seem to have found the perfect solution – though you all must own a lot of clothes. We can only make it a week before some need this, that or the other! I bet you get to read or catch up on emails while everything cleans itself in one, fell swoop! Our washer has broken several times this year, and it was… not good. 😉
I prefer baked goods that are not overly sweet. All recipes I make generally cut the sugar by 25-50% and still taste so sweet to our family. Hmmm. So, this will be ideal.
Your games sounds exciting. I hope you have some great parents to talk to in the stands! You are such a great mom – every child needs a cheering section. Way to go, Liz! 🙂
Best wishes,
Shanna

I had to do quite a bit of shopping but now we are good to go. I actually used to do it once a week but there’s so much happening in school and so many games over the weekends so once a fortnight just seems to be the solution. !’m glad to hear you prefer “not so sweet” thank God! I thought I was the only one.
The parents are great and we also do car pooling so no need to worry if one can’t make it sometime or need to take a break.Best!
Liz

I love that shot of the cross-section of the muffin. So soft and fluffy, and lemony…yum. And I’m with you on poppy seeds – OF COURSE you can taste it, what are those people who say they are tasteless on about??!? They taste nutty/peppery/smoky, and that’s not to mention what they add for texture and crunch right? And yupe, i never get them stuck in my teeth – vegetables yes, on so many embarrassing occasions- but poppy seeds no. Did you know there are white and blue poppy seeds as well?

I was just going to log off, thanks for browsing my site. I really appreciate. The lemon muffins were a hit, they tasted very delicious. I love poppy seed cakes, the poppy does taste very nice and makes a big difference taste wise. I never got them stuck on my teeth either, I haven’t seen the blue ones, mine looked more on the black side. I haven’t used the white ones. do they taste the same. Thanks for having a conversation with me. Pleasant weekend to you!

Hi Liz, I’m reposting the Lemon PoppySeed post on my new blog. Just a heads up that you’re going to get a ping notification from me again. (Re-posing made me want to make these all over again by the way!)

No problem. Go ahead. I’m happy that you baked and liked them. Have a wonderful day and hope to see you more often! Take care! wait a minute you have a new blog…I must visit it. That’s really nice to know. What happened to the old one??

Hi Rebecca,
This is really exciting for me..and the muffins you’ve made look great. You have made my day because the goal of my favourite pastime is to inspire myself and others to bake and cook. I am so happy that the photos inspired you to make them. Have a wonderful week !!!!

Ha ha my job here is to provoke your desire to bake, now I have provoked it, so please just assemble the ingredients and make the muffins and please, give me a feedback. Thank you for stopping by and hope to see you again and again. Enjoy the rest of the week.

Hi Mary Ann,
thanks for stopping by. The muffins were really delicious, please try them and give me a feedback. Thanks, it takes me hours to get the photos right sometimes, I’m glad you like it. Hope to see you again. Enjoy the rest of the week.

Hi thanks for stopping by and thanks for leaving me a note. I am an advocate of “suit your palate and mood” so if chia seeds is what you’d love to add, go ahead, I might give them a try next time myself (I had to look up more information on Chia seeds coz I’ve never used it). Have a great week and wish you a happy-wholesome cooking…I hope you will visit again!

Those look so yummy, I love poppy seed baked goods!
One of the things I like about the laundromat is that it gets me out of the house and I can just sit and read and not feel guilty about it. My favorite laundromat has wi-fi and a coffee shop, I can get a $2 latte and browse the internet while doing my laundry.

Hi Diana,
Thanks for stopping by and glad to know you also love poppy seed baked goods. A laundromat with wi-fi and coffee shop, now that’s the ultimate laundromat. I think I’m going to sell the wi-fi idea to my local one. I’m glad there are other laundromat lovers out there, gives me more reason to continue being a die-hard-laundromat client. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Wow! looks great to eat. Your cooking style is great. I remember when I visited you we would wash whole day and just pass by laundromat on our way to Sears. Now its the other way round – great discovery at laundromat!

At first I panicked because I didn’t read your name…it was like omg I’m being stalked by a stranger, then I saw the name Sheila and burst into laughter. I have spent the whole evening laughing!!! I’m so happy that you’ve finally gotten round to visiting My Favourite Pastime. I hope you shall be visiting at least once a week, thats not asking for too much. And could you please bake some of those cakes and give me a feedback? I have become a Laundromat-die-hard-client. Even the ladies there now know me, I get these huge smiles and a see-next-Sunday-send off…It’s actually fun washing there. A lot of people carry their laptops, and coffee. XOXO to the whole family…and thank you so much for stopping by. I really appreciate!!!!

You were on top of my to do list today because I saw you posted after some spell of silence. Thanks you so much for stopping by. I’m on my way to beads/yarn/spatula right now.
I shall come by later, the system is not working well right now, I Keep on getting error messages. sorry about that.

I made them for breakfast this morning and my husband and I both agreed they were super tasty!!! So fluffy and moist! I substituted chia seeds for the poppy seeds like I saw another reader had thought about doing. They were really good! I think chia seeds might be the tiniest bit bigger than poppy seeds, but I really couldn’t tell a difference.

Omg I am so happy that you made and liked them and that your husband loved them too. I must try these Chia seeds, I have never tried them, but I love trying new things so I shall look for them. Thanks so much, you’ve made my day….

You are en excellent ‘food critic’ they sure are fluffy but with a golden crust. What a wonderful way to describe them, and lemon always enhances flavour. Thank you. When I see your Gravatar, I’m happy. Enjoy the rest of the week.

Your blog has many beautiful and enlightening photos. I love looking at photos, one gets to learn so much about places they’ve never been to. I shall be frequenting your blog, to learn new things! Have a wonderful week!!

Thank you so much for your kind words. I love baking, but I’m still learning photography because I just started it with blogging. Thank you so much for stopping by. I really appreciate your visit. Have a wonderful week! I hope you will like them if you do try them!

I absolutely LOVE lemon poppyseed cake/muffin/everything, but I’ve never tried it with lime. I suppose that’s what next time is for 🙂 I also love my kitchen scale and would suggest that everybody get one. Double Recommendation! Also, congrats on three months!

Oh, you’ve made my favorite muffins! I used to have one nearly every morning at my university with an espresso in my other hand. It sounds like you’ve got a good thing going at the laundromat….lots of laundry done very quickly, with some extra time for baking and cooking. I think it’s brilliant!

Glad to know you love Poppy Seeds, and since you didn’t complain, I assume, they never got stuck in your teeth. The laundromat is my newly found Sunday hang-out and time saver. It is addictive. Have a great week and thank you for stopping by. I really appreciate!